From board talk with world champ Mick Fanning and world tour qualifier Jay ‘Bottle’ Thomson, to meat raffles with Chris Davidson and fly bye’s with Andy Irons.

Friday 19

MIck and Bottle bro down in the Snapper carpark.

An action day all round. The surf has finally turned on and it’s impossible to get a park (and a wave). Cruising down on the beach at snapper was more like a party with all the professional surfers you can poke a stick at or in my case point a lens. Young Owen Wright had to of done 10 laps of the beach in the space of about half an hour, running his tall frame past me with a big grin on his face, stoked on his consistent rhythm. My tip for who’s to win the Quiky pro this year is Ace Buchan. Though he’s on his backhand he is in devastating form when given the right wave.

Owen Wright going right…

I caught up with local ripper and all round nice guy Jay “Bottle” Thompson who was kind enough to take the time to pose for a photo and a chat. He was at D’bah testing out a new board and told me how much fun he’s having at the moment with his surfing, it’s always good to see. Feeling like a bit of a hound asking him questions, I was relieved and also surprised when Mick Fanning approached to say g’day and check out Bottle’s board. Jay immediately hit up Mick for a few quick answers on how things work with certain areas of a new board etc etc. Such a cool thing to see.

Andy Iron’s spreading a little aloha where ever he goes.

My biggest surprise of the day came when swimming down the line at Snapper. I bumped into the one and only Andy Irons. Unfortunately I wasn’t in the right spot to get a shot of him on his wave but managed to say g’day when he paddled back past. “What’s up Andy?” I asked as he approached with two meters of me, concerned I would cop a “blue horizon” response from the champ. “oh, heya, brah. How’s it doin alright? Man, this rip is fucked! It just WON’T let up.” Was his upbeat response.

Tenacious and focused Kai Otton continues to surpass expectations.

That night I made my way up to the famous and extremely well positioned Snapper Rocks Surf Club for a few schooners and the famous chicken parmy. The thing resembles more of an emu as it takes up 95 percent of your dinner plate. Being a Friday it was soon time for the raffles to be drawn for someone to take home the meat tray and who do I see jumping out of his seat and running around half pissed in the hope he would score the winning number? Chris Davo of course! The Aussie madman was yelling at the top of his voice with Lleyton Hewitt, “Come ons!” It was classic. The last ticket soon approached and all was quiet on deck to hear the number. 6559 was called and Davo sprung out of his seat in shear disbelief at the fact he didn’t have it. He screamed, “All I wanted was some dinner and I was one fucking number short!” And the whole club erupted in laughter. Not a bad way to end the day.

Sometime Mick’s blinding speed is even to much for him to handle.

Spence H